ENTOMOLOGY 



ENTOMOLOGY 



The collections of insects presented to the Museum in 1870 l>v 

 Baron Osten Sacken and Mr. Coleman T. Robinson were so important 

 that Mr. Robinson was made curator of them, serving without salary 

 till his death in 1872. The number of specimens in the department 

 was about 20,000. A large part of these collections was subsequently 

 destroyed by pests, so that in 1886, when a separate Department of 

 Entomology was again established, the total number of specimens was 

 less than 30,000, and many of these were in poor condition. 



The collection presented by Baron Osten Sacken in 1870 comprised osten-Sacken 

 about 3,800 North American insects of all orders except Lepidoptera, 

 and contained 2,000 specimens of beetles, representing 1,000 species. 



The series of American and European lepidoptera presented by Robinson 

 Mr. Coleman T. Robinson in 1870 consisted of about 10,000 specimens, Collection - 

 representing 3,000 species. 



In 1874 Mr. R. A. Witthaus gave a collection of American coleoptera F irst study 

 containing about 8,000 specimens, and 2,000 species, desiring that it Collectlon - 

 should form the nucleus of a cabinet to be devoted exclusively to the 

 use of persons especially interested in entomology. This gift marked 

 the beginning of the study collections. 



A collection numbering 2,235 specimens of insects, butterflies, Drexei 

 and moths was the gift of Mr. Joseph W. Drexei, in 1880. Collection. 



About 5,600 insects collected in New York and New Jersey by southwick 

 Mr. E. B. Southwick were presented by him in 1886. Collection. 



The material acquired previous to 1889 was almost entirely through 

 gift. Since 1889 the additions by gift, purchase, and expedition have 

 gained for this Department an enviable reputation, especially in its 

 collections of lepidoptera, formicidae, and diptera. 



The insect groups in the Jesup Collection of economic entomology, jesup Coi- 

 begun in 1889, represent the life history and other phases of insects !f ctlon of 



° ' r J r Economic 



injurious to trees, and are illustrated by their food plants made in Entomology, 

 wax, showing the injury done to the trees by the insects. These 



[53] 



